There's one less Navy ship lined up along the Bremerton waterfront. But the missing vessel isn't one of Naval Base Kitsap's homeported aircraft carriers or submarines that frequently move in and out of port.

Military Sealift Command's USNS Fisher made its way out to sea on Wednesday to shake off the dust for sea trials after the completion of a maintenance period, said MSC Pacific spokeswoman Sarah Burford.

"We do maintenance on them while they're sitting in port," Burford said. "So then they're taken out to sea to make sure they're doing all right."

The Fisher will likely be back in a few days. The last time the cargo ship got underway was in November 2017.

The vessels are currently being held in a reduced operating status. They don't have a full crew assigned to each ship while they're waiting pierside for their next mission. When called to action, the ship and additional crew members will have five days to prepare for whatever task is at hand.